Cash-strapped Chinese regions seek support from Beijing to meet costs of environmental clean-up
- Delegates to recent National People’s Congress asked for more help from central government and warn of cost of fighting pollution
China’s cash-strapped regions are lobbying Beijing to loosen its purse strings to help fight pollution, saying they do not have the funds to follow state policies aimed at fixing the damage done by decades of unrestricted development.
The cost of environmental compliance was a major theme at this month’s annual session of the National People’s Congress, where thousands of non-binding recommendations submitted by delegates give an insight into the major preoccupations of legislators.
Beijing has been at pains to stress it will not ease up in the “war on pollution” launched five years ago by Premier Li Keqiang, even though the economy grew at its slowest rate since 1990 last year.
But with resources tight and controlling debt a priority, many parliamentary delegates called for more spending support from Beijing and a more “coordinated” approach to keeping pollution in check and the economy on track.
“We cannot stop or hinder economic development in order to pursue environmental protection,” said delegate Pei Chunliang from central China’s Henan province, which has struggled to find new sources of growth.
